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"All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force."

-- George Orwell

News and Opinion

Gaza Is Exposing Western Liberals For The Frauds They Are

The entire western liberal worldview is currently balanced on the ability to psychologically compartmentalize away from the mass atrocities in Gaza and what western governments are doing to perpetuate them.

Everything that mainstream liberals claim to oppose is on full display in Israel’s actions in Gaza. Racism. Fascism. Tyranny. Injustice. Genocide. Yet they must necessarily avoid throwing themselves into opposing these things there at all cost, because it would mean acknowledging that their own political allegiances are inseparably interwoven with them.

protesters: "Genocide Joe, how many kids in Gaza have to be killed?!"

Democrats in the background: "FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS!"

these deranged cultist scum are depraved and deserve the worst pic.twitter.com/AWmMFdpaf7

— (@zei_squirrel) January 24, 2024

It would mean turning against Biden during an election year. It would mean admitting that their entire political posture against Trump all these years has been a phony performance, because they’re tacitly endorsing all the things they claimed to hate about him. It would mean admitting their entire worldview is a lie, and that all their critics to their left have been correct.

The western liberal is therefore in the year 2024 engaged in an exhausting regimen of nonstop mental gymnastics to avoid having an authentic relationship with the reality of what’s happening Gaza. They squirm this way and that, twisting their gaze toward empty nonsense like Barbie movie Oscar snubs and Trump’s latest instance of verbal diarrhea to avoid looking at what’s happening. On those odd occasions when they are forced to confront the reality of Gaza they start spouting gibberish about how “complicated” and “heartbreaking” it is and how they hope there can be peace as soon as possible, while frenetically avoiding saying precisely how that “peace” should be brought about.

Gaza exposes the mainstream western liberal ideology for the kayfabe performance it always has been. The job of the so-called liberal “moderate” has never been to oppose racism, fascism, tyranny, injustice or genocide, their job is to perpetually give the thumbs-up to one head of the two-headed monster that is the murderous western empire. Their job is to help put a positive spin on a globe-spanning power structure that is fueled by human blood. To help elect Bidens and Starmers and Trudeaus and Albaneses who will ensure that the gears of the empire keep on turning completely unhindered while paying lip service to human rights and social justice.

The one faint glimmer of brightness in this profoundly dark chapter in human history is that it might start opening some eyes to the fraudulence of the mainstream fake-left political faction that has been marketed to the western public as an alternative to far right depravity. That westerners might start awakening to the reality that everything they’ve been trained to believe about politics, their government and their world is a lie. Such an awakening would be the first step toward a mass-scale movement into health.

The Death of Israel

More than one-third of Americans believe Israel is committing genocide

More than one in three Americans believe Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians, a poll published on Wednesday has found.

According to the Economist/YouGov poll, roughly equal numbers of adults believe Israel’s military campaign against Palestinians, which is estimated to have killed more than 25,000 people since 7 October, amounts to genocide: 35% say it is, 36% say it isn’t, with 29% undecided.

Among younger Americans, and along political lines, divisions are more prominent. Almost half of those surveyed aged 18-29, 49%, say Israel is committing genocide, with 24% disagreeing and 27% uncertain.

The figures are broadly similar for registered Democrats, who believe 49%-21% in the genocide characterization, while 30% are undecided. Republicans are far more supportive of Israel’s actions, with 57% of respondents saying there is no genocide, only 18% saying there is, and exactly one-quarter unsure.

The polling, which took place between 21 and 23 January, comes as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague prepares to deliver on Friday an interim ruling on South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, and a separate lawsuit against Joe Biden’s administration for “failing to prevent genocide” advances.

Palestinian Journalist Akram al-Satarri Reports Live from Gaza

Thousands trapped in Gaza hospitals as Israeli troops encircle Khan Younis

Thousands of people sheltering in hospitals in Khan Younis are now trapped by Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip’s second largest city, even as a delegation from Hamas travelled to Egypt for the latest round of talks aimed at another ceasefire and hostage-release deal. The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it had “encircled” the southern city of Khan Younis after two days of heavy fighting, in what Israeli officials have described as the last large ground assault in the three-month-old war before a shift to “lower intensity” operations aimed at eradicating the Palestinian militant group.

By Wednesday morning, fierce battles had reached the gates of Khan Younis’s three main hospitals – al-Aqsa, Nasser and al-Amal – making it difficult for civilians to flee, according to Ocha, the UN humanitarian agency.

A building at a training centre in the city run by the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, where about 800 people had sought shelter, was hit by tank shelling on Wednesday, according to the agency’s director, who said on social media that nine people had been killed and 75 injured, with medical teams unable to access the building.

The incident drew criticism from the US state department. Spokesman Vedant Patel said: “We deplore today’s attack on the UN’s Khan Younis training centre. Civilians must be protected, and the protected nature of UN facilities must be respected, and humanitarian workers must be protected so that they can continue providing civilians with the life-saving humanitarian assistance that they need.”

After the US criticism, Israel denied that its forces were responsible and suggested Hamas may have launched the shells.

Netanyahu BARGES AHEAD With Gaza Buffer Zone Despite Biden's Opposition

Khan Younis besieged as Netanyahu calls for the “eradication of the new Nazis”

Israel focussed its genocidal assault in Gaza on the southern city of Khan Younis Wednesday, as leading Israeli officials promised no let-up in the slaughter. The Israel Defense Forces encircled the city on Tuesday and demanded the evacuation of a swathe of its crowded downtown area, including the main Nasser and two smaller hospitals and housing 88,000 residents plus 425,000 already displaced people.

This criminal order, requiring more than half a million people to leave in a matter of hours with nowhere to go, was intended to justify the mass killings of civilians. United Nations (UN) humanitarian relief chief Martin Griffiths commented that the IDF was “Ordering trapped people to evacuate and bombing them before they can even do so”.Al Jazeera journalist Hani Mahmoud explained the situation on the ground: “No one can get out of that area. Anyone who tries to leave risks losing their life as there is constant shelling and attacks by land and by air.”

Many of those who did try to flee were fired upon by IDF forces, including by tanks and attack drones. Reporting from Rafah and interviewing those who had managed to escape, Tareq Abu Azzoum said they described “Israeli military tanks surrounding them, opening fire against residents.” Inside Khan Younis, the IDF continued its filthy war crimes. In one incident, Israeli artillery struck a UN training centre sheltering 800 people, causing a large fire, killing at least nine people and injuring at least 75. There was no prior warning of the attack. ...

Two-thirds of Gaza’s population, 1.5 million people, have now been corralled, as planned, into a massive tent city centred on Rafah, on the border with Egypt—ready to be pushed into the Sinai desert or ravaged by hunger and disease.

Speaking to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Israeli parliament, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bluntly stated the genocidal agenda behind the offensive: “The war must end with the eradication of the new Nazis, there will be no compromise”. He posted to social media earlier in the day, “The only option is complete victory.”

Max Blumenthal: Will the Killing Stop?

ICJ to deliver interim ruling on genocide case against Israel on Friday

South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, is flying to The Hague to be present on Friday when the international court of justice (ICJ) delivers its highly anticipated verdict on South Africa’s request for an interim ruling in its genocide case against Israel.

The ruling, if granted, would probably take the form of an order to Israel to announce a ceasefire in Gaza and allow more UN humanitarian aid into the country.

The announcement of Pandor’s travel plans does not necessarily mean South Africa knows the verdict will be in its favour, but does reflect a confidence in Pretoria that their request is going to be met at least partially.

A judgment on the merits of the South African claim that Israel is committing genocide under the 1948 Geneva convention is many years off, but the ICJ, the UN’s highest court, has powers to issue the equivalent of an interim injunction.

Iraq accuses US of ‘reckless escalation’ of regional violence after latest strikes

US strikes against militias in Iraq have prompted the most scathing criticism yet from Baghdad, with the prime minister’s office accusing Washington of contributing to a “reckless escalation” of regional violence. The Pentagon announced earlier on Wednesday that it had carried out overnight retaliatory strikes against three facilities linked to Iran-backed militias in response to its own forces coming under attack at an Iraqi airbase at the weekend.

The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said in a statement that the attacks on Kata’ib Hezbollah and other Iran-linked groups were “necessary and proportionate”.

“These precision strikes are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks against US and coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias,” Austin said. “We do not seek to escalate conflict in the region.”

Iraqi officials, however, disagreed, especially as some of the paramilitaries targeted are now integrated into the country’s regular armed forces. A spokesperson for the prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, called the attacks an “act of aggression”.

“This unacceptable act undermines years of cooperation, blatantly violates Iraq’s sovereignty and contributes to a reckless escalation … at a time when the region is already grappling with the danger of expanding conflict,” said Yahya Rasool, the Iraqi leader’s spokesperson for military affairs.

Biden BEGS China To Save US From Yemen Chaos

US Bombs Yemen for 9th Time, Houthis Attack US Commercial Ship

US Central Command said it launched more missile strikes against the Houthis in Yemen early Wednesday morning, marking the ninth time the US bombed Yemen since January 12.

CENTCOM claimed the strikes targeted “two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed into the Southern Red Sea and were prepared to launch” and that US forces “identified the missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they presented an imminent threat.”

The new US bombing campaign has done nothing to deter the Houthis and has only escalated the situation in the region. Later on Wednesday, the Houthis launched an attack on an American-owned commercial vessel.

US navy escorts cargo ships to safety after Houthi missile attack from Yemen

Two ships sailing close to the Gulf of Aden were forced to seek the support of the US navy after explosions were heard nearby, as the Houthi group kept up their assault on commercial shipping off the coast of Yemen.

The Houthis have said their attacks are in solidarity with the Palestinians as Israel bombards Gaza. The ships belonging to the Danish shipping company Maersk came under attack from three anti-ship missiles near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the US central command (Centcom) said. No damage was caused either to the Maersk Detroit or the Maersk Chesapeake.

Maersk said in a statement: “En route, both ships reported seeing explosions close by and the US navy accompaniment also intercepted multiple projectiles. The crew, ship and cargo are safe and unharmed. The US navy has turned both ships around and is escorting them back to the Gulf of Aden.”

Professors Slam Columbia's Response to Chemical Skunk Attack on Students at Pro-Palestine Protest

Russia accuses Kyiv of downing plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war

Russia has accused Kyiv of downing a large military transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war to an exchange on Wednesday, after a crash in the Belgorod region that killed everyone onboard. Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that it hit the plane but said Moscow had created a “deliberate threat to the life and safety” of its PoWs by failing to warn Kyiv to deconflict the airspace before the swap.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called for full clarity over the crash, accusing Moscow of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war”. Zelenskiy said in his nightly video broadcast: “It is clear that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, the feelings of their loved ones and the emotions of our society.”

Ukrainian military intelligence said it did not have “reliable and comprehensive” information about who or what was onboard the Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft, which was filmed crashing and exploding in a fireball on Wednesday afternoon ... .

In a statement on Wednesday evening, Ukrainian military intelligence did not directly confirm or deny targeting the Il-76, but accused Russia of failing to provide advance notice of which aircraft would be carrying the captured Ukrainian servicemen to the swap. ...

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Russia had called for an emergency UN security council session later on Wednesday to discuss what he described as a “Ukrainian criminal act”.

The Ukrainska Pravda newspaper initially cited sources which said Kyiv’s armed forces had shot down the plane but later withdrew the report.

Argentinians stage nationwide strike against Javier Milei’s far-right agenda

Argentine demonstrators have staged their biggest-yet show of opposition to Javier Milei’s radical attempt to reshape the South American country with a nationwide strike that shuttered schools and businesses, grounded hundreds of flights, and saw tens of thousands of marchers hit the streets.

Milei, a boisterous celebrity economist nicknamed “El Loco” (the Madman), became president in December vowing to free Argentina from decades of “decadence and decline” with his libertarian ideas. Since then, the far-right politician has moved speedily to implement what the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage recently called “Thatcherism on steroids” – first with a far-reaching emergency decree; then with a mega-reform bill known as the “omnibus law”.

Together, Milei’s decree and the draft legislation propose hundreds of highly controversial innovations including a wave of privatisations, ferocious spending cuts, a major expansion of presidential powers, and a scaling back of workers’ rights and the right to protest. Nine of 18 government ministries have been closed, including those responsible for education, the environment and women, gender and diversity. Argentina’s currency, the peso, was devalued by more than 50% against the dollar.

Milei claims such moves will rescue Argentina from the “economic hell” he blames on his Peronist predecessors. But the agony has intensified since his inauguration. Monthly inflation hit 25.5% last month compared to 12.8% in November. Annual inflation has reached a three-decade high of 211.4% – even higher than in Venezuela, a country reeling from a decade-long economic collapse. ...

Benjamin Gedan, the director of the Wilson Center’s Latin America Program, called the walkout an early “shot across the bow” of Milei’s administration and wagered it would be the first of many such mobilizations. “This could be the beginning of a very tumultuous period in Argentina as the government charges ahead with a radical reform program,” Gedan predicted. “The [economic] pain we have seen is extraordinary … prices are increasing at a head-spinningly fast rate. That’s real pain with real social and political consequences.”

Greg Abott DOUBLES DOWN, Says Federal Gov't FAILING To Protect Texas From Border 'INVASION

Biden Urged to Take 'Control of the Texas National Guard' as State Defies Supreme Court

Texas officials are defying a Monday Supreme Court ruling prohibiting them from blocking the federal government from removing razor wire installed by the state along the U.S. border with Mexico, prompting calls for the Biden administration to respond.

The Texas National Guard is barring the federal government from entering an area in Eagle Pass where it has installed the wire, as CBS' Camilo Montoya-Galvez reported Tuesday.

"The Texas National Guard continues to hold the line in Eagle Pass," Gov. Greg Abbott posted on social media on Tuesday. "Texas will not back down from our efforts to secure the border in Biden's absence."

In response, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said that Abbott was "using the Texas National Guard to obstruct and create chaos at the border."

"If Abbott is defying yesterday's Supreme Court ruling, the president of the U.S. needs to establish sole federal control of the Texas National Guard now," Castro wrote on social media.

Most UNPOPULAR Incumbent EVER?! Biden FLAMED By Dean Phillips As Polls Sink Lower

New Hampshire primary set turnout record with more than 300,000 voting

More than 300,000 voters turned out Tuesday to vote in New Hampshire’s presidential primary, underscoring Donald Trump’s tendency to mobilize both his diehard supporters, but also his most fervent detractors at the polls. The final results show fractures in the Republican party, even as the former president is on the fast track to the nomination.

The primary set a record for voter turnout in any previous New Hampshire presidential primary – a notable milestone given New Hampshire regularly turns out a higher share of voters than other states for presidential primaries. New Hampshire is also known for having a strong share of independent voters and conducts open primaries, meaning voters are not required to declare a party affiliation to vote there. For those reasons, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, Trump’s last challenger, hoped for an upset victory.

Biden administration reportedly pauses approval of ‘carbon mega bomb’ gas export hub

The Biden administration will reportedly pause a decision on approving what would be one of the world’s largest gas export hubs, amid concern from climate experts that greenlighting the project would create a “carbon mega bomb”.

The project, Calcasieu Pass 2, or CP2, would be positioned near the rapidly eroding Louisiana shoreline and be the biggest such export terminal in the US and part of a huge expansion of new gas infrastructure along the Gulf of Mexico.

The New York Times, citing three unnamed sources, reported Wednesday that the administration was pausing the decision in a delay that could stretch past the November election.

The move, the sources said, could spell trouble for the project and 16 other proposed terminals, as the energy department had been asked to expand its evaluation of CP2 to assess its impact on climate change, as well as on the economy and national security, the Times said.

The report comes as Joe Biden, who passed landmark climate legislation in August 2022 with the Inflation Reduction Act, and whose White House has been pushing funding boosts for electric vehicles in recent weeks, has disappointed climate activists who have been alarmed by US oil and gas production breaking records.

Bumblebee among species US wildlife officials consider listing as endangered

Federal wildlife officials announced on Wednesday they will consider adding 10 new species to the Endangered Species Act, including a big bumblebee that serves as an important pollinator across the United States.

US Fish and Wildlife Service officials said they had completed 90-day reviews of petitions to add the species to the list and determined that listing may be warranted. The finding triggers reviews of the species’ status.

One of the more prominent species up for consideration is the Southern Plains bumblebee, a large black-and-yellow bumblebee that inhabits open prairies, meadows and grasslands in the midwest, the mid-Atlantic states and the Plains states from Texas to North Dakota. It is also found in the grasslands and savannahs in the south-eastern US, including Florida. Queens can grow as large as an inch (26mm); workers can grow to as large as three-quarters of an inch (18mm).

The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2022 to include the bee on the endangered species list. According to the center, habitat loss and degradation as well as pesticides have led to sharp population declines in the southern Plains states, including Texas and Oklahoma as well as in Alabama and Mississippi.

The other species under review include the betta hendra and the betta rutilans, freshwater fish found in Borneo; the Hickory Nut Gorge salamander, an amphibian found in western North Carolina; the pygmy rabbit, a small rabbit found in mountainous areas of the western US; and the Railroad Valley toad, a small toad that lives only in the wetlands of the Lockes wildlife management area in Nye county, Nevada.

Just two northern white rhinos remain. The species’ first IVF pregnancy could save them from extinction

The critically endangered northern white rhino could be saved from the brink of extinction after scientists performed the first successful embryo transfer in white rhinos.

After the last male northern white rhino, Sudan, died in 2018, the disappearance of the species looked imminent. Just two infertile female northern white rhinos – Fatu and Najin – remain, and are under 24-hour armed protection at a conservation reservation in Kenya. But a new scientific advancement means the mother and daughter may not be the last of their kind.

An international team of researchers from BioRescue – a consortium, backed by the German government, which aims to halt extinctions – has performed the first successful embryo transfers in southern white rhinos, paving the way for the technique to be used for their rarer northern counterparts.

In September 2023, scientists transferred two southern white rhino embryos into surrogates at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, resulting in a successful pregnancy. While commonly used in humans, horses and cows, the method had never been used in rhinos before.

The father and the pregnant mother died after contracting a rare, unrelated bacterial infection when the foetus was 70 days old, but researchers said the pregnancy was proof that the technique can work.

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

For South Africa, Defending Palestine Is Personal

Israel has destroyed 1,000 of Gaza's 1,2000 mosques since 7 October, officials say

The US Media Is Ignoring Israel’s Campaign to Kill Palestinian Journalists

Hezbollah Targets Command Center in Northern Israel

Pro-Israel Washington Post reporter smears The Grayzone as Holocaust deniers in ADL-affiliated hit piece

Israel's Antiquities Director Displays Artifacts Stolen From Gaza in Parliament

Election 2024 - Preliminary Assessment

Can a Real Left Party Save Germany From Itself?

Palestinian Economist on Israel's Economic Warfare in Gaza and the West Bank

Israel Plans 'BUFFER ZONE' Inside Gaza As Egypt OUTRAGED

A Little Night Music

Betty Harris - There's a Break in the Road

Betty Harris - Cry To Me

Betty Harris - Mean Man

Betty Harris - I Don't Wanna Hear It

Betty Harris - Trouble with My Lover

Betty Harris - Nearer To You

Betty Harris - What Did I Do Wrong

Betty Harris - All I Want Is You

Betty Harris - I'm Gonna Git Ya

Betty Harris - Mo Jo Hannah